HOMETOWN HERO: Local man receives French Legion of Honor award

Duane and June Pinkston say people in Normandy are a lot like them, and a lot like their neighbors.

The Pinkstons farmed 240 acres, first raising beans – cranberry, navy and light red – and then went heavier into hogs, after he retired as a supervisor at Oldsmobile.

Normandy is in the dairy belt of France, said Duane Pinkston, and agriculture is big there, too.

They've become friends with three families in particular and have gone overseas to visit for the past three years straight, and some before that. But Duane's connection to Normandy goes beyond its similar industry.

When he was 20, "Pinky" Pinkston was a medic in the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment assigned to the 82nd Airborne of the United States Army. He jumped over Normandy in 1944 on D-Day at Ste. Mere-Eglise, the first town liberated by the Allies. In September 1944, the unit participated in Operation Market Garden, and then the Battle of the Bulge.

"We were the first battalion and went to the La Fiere Bridge and held it for three days," he recalled. "We suffered heavy losses."

Earlier this month, the Pinkstons traveled to Normandy, along with their three children, Craig, Karen Bedaine and Brian, so Duane Pinkston could be made a "Chevalier" of the French Legion of Honor, near the bridge he held with his buddies nearly 70 years ago. He was 20.

Created by Napoleon in 1802, the award is given to acknowledge "rendered to France by persons of exceptional merit," explained a letter from the French ambassador. "The French people will never forget your courage and your devotion to the great cause of freedom."

Duane Pinkston had planned to enlist in the service, but said he didn't want to miss pheasant-hunting season. He was drafted when he was 18.

He had never been in an airplane before he joined the Army.

"They paid $50 more for being a paratrooper," he said, adding that that was on top of regular pay of $50, recently raised from $21.

He describes D-Day like it was yesterday, remembering names and faces in detail. He saved a German soldier who was badly injured, because the man would have died if he had been left there. Another German soldier with him already was dead.

When Duane Pinkston and another soldier brought the man back into camp, a sergeant said to him, "When I looked down the road, I saw two paratroopers carrying a German. I wished I had a camera. That's the difference between us and the Nazis."

Duane Pinkston saved many more lives, and when he meets up with soldiers he served with at reunions, there are always several who tell their story and say, "Here's the guy who saved my life."

Duane Pinkston was notified that he received the medal from the French Legion of Honor last July, but it has to be bestowed on him by someone who already has received it.

"I wanted them to give it to me in Normandy," he said. "They knighted me and pinned the medal on me. I told them, 'I take a lot of pride receiving the Legion of Honor. I will take good care of it. When I look at it, I will think of the people of France, and especially the people of Normandy, and I will smile.'"

"It was a very emotional experience," said Betty Pinkston. "It made quite an impression on the children."

"When they announced my name in the hangar (where the ceremony was held), I thought they'd raise the roof. That made me feel good. I felt humbled," said Duane Pinkston. "My daughter said, 'I'm really proud of you, Dad.'"

"It's different hearing someone talk about it and really seeing it," said June Pinkston.

Then he gave a second acceptance speech in the town square with the mayor. Wherever he went, he was surrounded by people who wanted his autograph and a picture of him in his uniform from back then.

Three years ago, the Pinkstons went to Normandy for the installation of a brass plaque memorializing all 24 medics who served there. School children were bussed in to greet him.

Duane Pinkston has also received the Purple Heart and two oak leaf clusters for being wounded three times – once in Normandy, once in Holland and once in the Battle of the Bulge.

He said he hopes to go back for another visit next year for the 70th anniversary of D-Day. He'll be 90.